Local

Andrew Jackson State Park will host Andrew Jackson’s 252nd Birthday Celebration 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, March 23.
Take a stroll around the lawn to meet traditional crafters and re-enactors. Listen to the blasts of black powder guns during firing demonstrations by Revolutionary War re-enactors. See how everyday items were made by hand during Jackson’s time. If you are lucky, you might get to chat with Old Hickory.

INDIAN LAND – Don McCorkle grew up in the Panhandle, and Bruce Logan grew up in Detroit.
But they are forever linked through their individual relationships with McCorkle’s lifelong friend Jacky Bayne. Pronounced dead twice – once in the field and once at a hospital – Bayne was in a coma for 30 days after he was horribly wounded by a land-mine explosion on July 17, 1967, near Chu Lai, Vietnam.
Call Bayne’s miraculous survival the X-13 factor.

INDIAN LAND – Fred Rom, the oldest military veteran in Lancaster County and one of its great storytellers, died Saturday, 18 days shy of his 106th birthday.
The son of Austrian immigrants and a decorated World War II soldier, the Sun City Carolina Lakes resident had a lifetime of experiences that few could top.

There will be a second entrance to the 2,000-home subdivision and commercial development that Lennar Carolinas plans to build just north of Shiloh Unity Road.
At its March 11 meeting, Lancaster County Council unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance that changes a vacant 76-acre tract along Old Hickory Road from the rural district zoning classification to medium density residential. The acreage is just north of Crestview Lane.

The J. Marion Sims Foundation has awarded HOPE (Helping Other People Effectively) in Lancaster half a million dollars in a grant that will be rolled out over three years to help the organization to diversify its funding sources.
“J. Marion Sims, over our history, has been very generous to HOPE and very supportive of HOPE,” said the nonprofit’s Executive Director Bekah Clawson.

KERSHAW – While nothing has been decided, the town’s homeowners need to brace for a possible increase in residential water rates beginning July 1.
“Just like everything else, things are going up,” said Kershaw Town Administrator Mitch Lucas at Monday night’s town council meeting.

INDIAN LAND – Tim Old nearly choked on his drink.
He and wife Amelia were dining out when she broached the idea of hiking to Everest Base Camp to raise money for charity.
“My first reaction was disbelief and shock,” he recalls. “It wasn’t something that would ever come to mind.”
As a freelance travel writer, Amelia is known for her adventurous spirit. She shares tales of her philanthropic-focused trips on her blog Passports from the Heart.

HEATH SPRINGS – Town council member Iva Drakeford has graduated from the Advanced Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government.
Graduates received their certificates during the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s Hometown Legislative Action Day.
The association established the Advanced Institute in 2014 to provide elected officials with continuing education through classroom instruction and interaction with experienced peers.

If you’re an environmentally conscious Lancaster County resident who wants to recycle glass and plastic, your only remaining option is across the state line and comes at a cost.
Foxhole Recycling Center in Mecklenburg County allows non-county residents to drop off recyclables.
“Lancaster residents may self-haul their recycling to the Foxhole Full Service Convenience Center,” said Jeffrey Smithberger, Mecklenburg County’s solid waste management director.

Lancaster County had about 30 non-fatal opioid overdoses in the first two months of this year, but the pace has roughly doubled this month, averaging about one a day.
Six overdoses have resulted in deaths so far this year, a much faster rate than last year, when there were 15 cases, said Lancaster County Coroner Karla Deese.
Deese said the fatalities have been spread all over the county.